(165) The Chicago Inter Ocean explained that it was the "Ringsters, tricksters, and small-fry politicians" in the north who opposed statehood.
The Grand Forks Herald said that northern Dakotans would ignore the Fargo convention, which it labeled "a Bismarck capital scheme, pure and simple." (171) The Fargo Republican was perhaps the most stridently critical of the Fargo convention, which it said was "originated by the Bismarck ring" and "scheming politicians." The newspaper opined that the masses opposed the Fargo convention and that the "ringsters" were using the loss-of-name issue as "a cover for an attempt to place the people of north Dakota in an attitude of opposition to division and to thwart the efforts of the southern section." (172) The Fargo paper concluded that the opponents of statehood were simply trying to create the impression that the residents of the territory did not favor division and statehood.